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Home › CT5 Buyers Guide › CT5 vs CT5-V vs Blackwing
Comparison · No Winner
Three cars, one body, and no ladder. We sell all three, so this page has no favorite.
The structural fact that reframes this choice: these are not three trims of one model. The CT5 is a luxury sedan sold in two trims. The CT5-V and the CT5-V Blackwing are separate V-Series models with separate engines. They share a body, a wheelbase and a trunk, and almost nothing else that matters to how they drive or what they cost to keep.
We are Covert Cadillac Bee Cave and we stock all three, which means this page has nothing to gain from picking a winner and everything to gain from you buying the right one. There is no default answer below, no lean, and no consolation prize. Each car is argued by someone who would actually buy it.
The Three
A rear-drive luxury sedan in Premium Luxury and Sport, running a 237-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder through a 10-speed automatic, with a twin-turbocharged V6 orderable on Premium Luxury. Super Cruise is standard on both trims. It is rated 26 mpg combined with rear-wheel drive. It is the car many of this family’s buyers should own, and the one that will still make sense to them in four years.
A separate model running a 360-horsepower twin-turbocharged V6, with Brembo front brakes, Magnetic Ride Control and Launch Control as standard equipment, and Super Cruise included. It reaches 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and tops out at 156. It is the car that is quick enough to be interesting on a Sunday and civilized enough to be invisible on a Monday.
A supercharged 6.2L V8 making 668 horsepower, standard with a six-speed manual gearbox, Brembo brakes front and rear, and available carbon ceramics. It reaches 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and exceeds 200 mph on a racetrack. Cadillac describes availability as limited. It is a car built for people who want to be involved, and it does not pretend otherwise.
The Numbers
| CT5 | CT5-V | CT5-V Blackwing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | 2.0L turbo I4; 3.0L twin-turbo V6 available on Premium Luxury | 3.0L twin-turbo V6 | 6.2L supercharged V8 |
| Horsepower | 237 hp | 360 hp | 668 hp |
| Torque | 258 lb-ft (Cadillac-estimated) | 405 lb-ft | 659 lb-ft |
| Transmission | 10-speed automatic | 10-speed automatic | 6-speed manual standard; 10-speed automatic available |
| Drivetrain | RWD standard, AWD available | RWD standard, AWD available | Rear-wheel drive |
| 0-60 mph | 6.6 sec RWD / 6.9 sec AWD | 4.6 sec | 3.4 sec |
| Top speed | — | 156 mph | Over 200 mph on the racetrack |
| Brakes | Four-wheel disc; Brembo fronts available on Sport | Brembo performance fronts standard | Brembo front and rear standard; carbon ceramic available |
| Super Cruise | Standard | Standard | Available, bundled with the automatic |
| Curb weight | 3,663 lb (RWD) | Ask us | 4,123 lb |
| Rear legroom | 37.9 in | 37.9 in | 37 in |
| Cargo volume | 11.9 cu ft | 11.9 cu ft | 11.9 cu ft |
Torque on the four-cylinder is a manufacturer estimate. Where a cell reads “Ask us,” the figure is not published to a standard we are willing to print, and we will confirm it on the car.
| Configuration | City | Highway | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| CT5, 2.0L turbo I4, RWD | 22 | 31 | 26 |
| CT5, 2.0L turbo I4, AWD | 21 | 30 | 24 |
| CT5-V, 3.0L V6, RWD | 18 | 27 | 21 |
| CT5-V, 3.0L V6, AWD | 17 | 26 | 20 |
| CT5-V Blackwing, manual | 13 | 20 | 15 |
| CT5-V Blackwing, automatic | 13 | 20 | 15 |
EPA estimates. The V6-equipped CT5 is absent because we could not confirm its ratings to the standard the rest of this table meets.
The Money
| Car | Starting MSRP | Price Delta From the Car Below (derived) |
|---|---|---|
| CT5 Premium Luxury | From $49,200 | — |
| CT5 Sport | From $50,200 | +$1,000 |
| CT5-V | From $58,300 | +$8,100 |
| CT5-V Blackwing | From $98,900 | +$40,600 |
MSRP excludes destination freight charge, tax, title, license, dealer fees, and optional equipment. Dealer sets final price. Step-up figures are derived by subtracting the published starting prices above; they are not separately published numbers.
The gap that surprises people is not the one at the top. It is the eighty-one hundred dollars between a CT5 Sport and a CT5-V, which buys a different engine and three pieces of standard hardware. The forty thousand at the top buys a supercharger, a manual gearbox and a set of brakes, and everyone paying it already knows exactly what they are getting.
The Case for Each
Money, and the things money buys when it is not buying horsepower. It costs roughly nine thousand dollars less than a CT5-V and it carries the same standard Super Cruise, the same 33-inch Horizon Display and the same AKG audio. It is rated 26 mpg combined against the CT5-V’s 21, which over a Hutto commute is a real number rather than a rounding error. Premium Luxury adds heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, and it is the trim you can order with the V6 if you decide later that you wanted the power after all. It weighs 3,663 pounds in rear-drive form against the Blackwing’s 4,123, and you feel that on a narrow road out toward Blanco long before you feel any horsepower deficit.
Breadth. It reaches 60 mph in 4.6 seconds where a rear-drive CT5 takes 6.6, and it gives up nothing to get there: Super Cruise stays standard, the automatic stays smooth, the rear seat stays the same size. Brembo front brakes, Magnetic Ride Control and Launch Control are standard rather than optional, which is the difference between a car that looks quick and a car that is. It is rated 21 mpg combined, which is livable, and it is the one car of the three you can order with all-wheel drive and a hands-free highway system on the same car. Against the Blackwing it makes 360 horsepower to 668, and saves forty thousand dollars.
Everything that cannot be bought back later. A supercharged V8 delivers its work instantly, with none of a turbo’s brief negotiation, and 668 horsepower reaches 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. A six-speed manual gearbox is standard equipment in a segment that has abandoned them, and Cadillac still fits Brembo brakes front and rear, offers carbon ceramics, and makes the performance data recorder standard. It exceeds 200 mph on a racetrack. Availability is limited and the manual will not be built forever. Against the other two it gives up fuel economy and the option of hands-free driving with three pedals, and owners of them tend not to mention either.
The Decision
Your drive is highway and your week is long → CT5. Standard Super Cruise, 26 mpg combined, and nothing you are paying for that you will not use.
You want the power without changing your life around it → CT5-V. Quick, hands-free, and rated 21 mpg combined.
You want all-wheel drive and speed together → CT5-V with all-wheel drive. The Blackwing is rear-wheel drive.
You want to shift gears yourself → Blackwing, six-speed manual. Nothing else here offers it, and no amount of money adds it later.
You have a track day on the calendar → Blackwing with the Precision Package.
You want the V6 without leaving the CT5 → CT5 Premium Luxury with the available V6.
Read each car’s own page before you commit: the CT5, the CT5-V, and the CT5-V Blackwing. The engines and performance page compares all three powertrains, and the specs and dimensions page has every measurement.
Buy Local
We are at 16501 Sweetwater Village Dr, Building 2. Sales answers at (512) 900-7062. Keeping all three on the ground is the point of this page: you can drive a CT5 and a CT5-V back to back in an afternoon and settle the eighty-one-hundred-dollar question with your right foot. Long, hot summers thin the air and take the edge off a supercharger, so a Blackwing that feels ferocious in February still feels quick in August. Customers come from Elgin, from Hutto, from Blanco and down from Johnson City for exactly that comparison, and a Johnson City two-lane settles the CT5-V question faster than any table on this page. Schedule a test drive, or value your trade.
Questions
No. It is a separate V-Series model with a different engine, standard Brembo front brakes, standard Magnetic Ride Control and standard Launch Control. Cadillac lists it as a separate model, and so do we.
The engine and the gearbox. The CT5-V runs a twin-turbocharged V6 through a 10-speed automatic and includes Super Cruise. The Blackwing runs a supercharged V8, comes standard with a six-speed manual, and offers Super Cruise alongside its automatic.
That depends entirely on what you will do with the car, which is why this page routes by use rather than crowning a winner. We sell all three. A CT5 that never leaves the interstate and a Blackwing that sees a racetrack are both correct answers.
No. The six-speed manual is the Blackwing’s standard transmission. The CT5 and CT5-V both use a 10-speed automatic.
Yes. All three hold 11.9 cubic feet and seat five. The Blackwing gives up rear legroom, 37 inches against 37.9, and it sits nearly an inch lower.
We are not going to answer that on this page, because we have not read the current crash ratings at IIHS or NHTSA ourselves, and a comparative safety claim is a ratings claim wearing a comparison’s clothes. Read both at iihs.org and nhtsa.gov and we will go through them with you.
